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John Lupton
John Rollin Lupton (August 23, 1928 – November 3, 1993) was an American film and television actor. Career After graduating from New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Lupton acted with stock companies in Ocean City, New Jersey, and Saratoga Springs, New York. Lupton was tall, lanky and handsome very much like James Stewart or Henry Fonda but never achieved similar fame while accumulating over 260 credits in film productions and on television. He was signed as a contract player at MGM in Hollywood and made his first film appearance in On the Town in 1949. He co-starred in 1956 with Fess Parker in Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase. During the 1954-1955 television season, Lupton appeared in several episodes as a college student in the CBS sitcom, The Halls of Ivy. He also played Chris Lambert on the NBC series Fury (1955-1960) and Frank on the ABC serial Never Too Young (1965-1966). On October 30, 1959, Lupton appeared in the episode "Client Peter Warren" of the ABC western series Black Saddle, starring Peter Breck as gunfighter-turned-lawyer Clay Culhane. Lupton portrays Peter Warren, a man accused by townspeople of starting a fire that caused the death of his estranged wife's wealthy and respected aunt. The motive is inheritance of joint property from the aunt's pending estate. Culhane agrees to defend Warren but instead finds evidence that Warren had been present at the scene of the fire. Ed Nelson portrays Lee Coogan, a former suitor of Mrs. Mary Warren (played by Aneta Corsaut), who is also determined to prove Warren's guilt. Lupton made two guest appearances on Perry Mason in 1959 and 1960. His first role was as Wally Dunbar in "The Case of the Bartered Bikini," then he played Peter Nichols in "The Case of the Lavender Lipstick." In 1959, he was cast as a struggling writer in The Rebel Set. In 1959, Lupton portrayed the historical Buffalo Bill Cody in the episode "The Grand Duke," on the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. The Grand Duke of Russia is portrayed by Alexander Davion. The episode focuses on the friendship that developed when the skeptical Cody was assigned by the United States Army to escort The Grand Duke on a western buffalo hunt. In 1961, Lupton was cast in still another Death Valley Days episode, "South of Horror Flats", as Pinkerton agent Allen Hodges, who is hired by a ghost-plagued woman, Abigale Briton (Jocelyn Somers), to take her and her fortune in gold to San Francisco. In 1960, Lupton guest starred as Andrew Sykes in "The Triple Cross" of the syndicated crime drama, U.S. Marshal, starring John Bromfield. That same year, he also appeared in a variety of programs, including Sea Hunt, Men into Space, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Tales of Wells Fargo, and Checkmate. On April 25, 1961, Lupton played the role of Fred Powers in "Killers' Odds", an episode of NBC's Laramie. Series character Jess Harper (Robert Fuller) comes upon Powers, a stranger with a price on his head, and Laramie costar Slim Sherman (John Smith) offers Fred employment on the ranch though he is pursued by gunslingers portrayed by Lee Van Cleef and Russell Johnson. The charge against Fred is fraudulent because he had killed in self-defense. Fred begins to court a local girl, Sue Fenton, played by Patricia Michon, in whom Slim Sherman also has a romantic interest. Ultimately, Slim, Jess, and Fred must rescue Sue and her family from the gunmen. Sue and Fred end up heading by covered wagon to California, where Sue had inherited unseen property. In 1961, he was cast as Buzz in the episode "Doctor to Town" of the CBS comedy/drama, Window on Main Street, starring Robert Young, as an author who returns to his hometown after the death of his wife. Character actor Karl Swenson also appeared in this episode. Lupton guest starred as Amber in the 1961 episode, "The Platinum Highway", of ABC's crime drama, Target: The Corruptors with Stephen McNally as a newspaperman and Robert Harland as his investigator. He appeared, too, on NBC's Daniel Boone, with Fess Parker. Lupton later appeared in the 1965 biblical film The Greatest Story Ever Told as the speaker of the town of Capernaum, and as Jesse James in the 1966 cult horror western, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter. His later film career included roles in The Day of the Wolves (1971), The Astronaut (1972), Cool Breeze (1972), Napoleon and Samantha (1972), The Slams (1973), The Phantom of Hollywood (1974) and Airport 1975 (1974). Lupton's other Disney film appearances were in The World's Greatest Athlete (1973) as the race starter, The Whiz Kid and the Carnival Caper (1976), The Young Runaways (1978) and The Secret of Lost Valley (1980). In 1965, Lupton starred in a well-remembered TV commercial for pain reliever Anacin, playing a harried husband with a headache, yelling at his hectoring wife, "Helen, please, I just got home...Don't rush me!" Additionally, he was featured on the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives in the pivotal role of '''Dr. Tom (Tommy) Horton, Jr., from 1967 to 1980. Category:Days of our lives actor